Interacting with members of the All India Professional Congress, he also said Mr Nath should get the same “benefit of doubt” which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is given about his handling of the 2002 Gujarat riots.

“No court found any evidence against him to convict him. It is wrong to make a judgement based on unsubstantiated and unproven allegations,” he said.

Shashi Tharoor was asked whether the Congress has lost the moral high ground to the BJP by nominating Kamal Nath for chief minister’s post, as he faces allegations of involvement in the 1984 riots

Modi has not been convicted by any court of law (though he faced allegations of administration’s complicity in post-Godhra riots when he was the chief minister), the Congress leader said.

“The same benefit of doubt given to Modi should apply to Kamal Nath,” Tharoor said.

Mr Nath, a nine-time MP from Chhindwara, will be taking oath as Madhya Pradesh chief minister on December 17.